The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art. Indicating instruments or gauges, such as speedometers, for viewing by drivers of vehicles are generally analog in construction and display operational information such as vehicle speed. An analog gauge may also typically include a faceplate having a numerical scale, such as mile per hour (“mph”) markings, and indicia to denote levels of the scale and a corresponding mechanical pointer, which rotates around the scale to indicate precise positions of the scale. While such analog indicating instruments have generally proven satisfactory for their intended purposes, they have been associated with their share of limitations.
One such limitation of current analog indicating instruments is their inability to indicate markings on non-circular gauges. Because many analog indicating instruments are circular with a rigid pointer disposed at the center of the circular scale, with the rigid pointer or indicator rotating about the gauge center, gauges and their associated numerical scales must be constructed in a circular shape. If such gauges were non-circular, pointers located at the circular center of the gauge may move outside of the gauge boundary as a pointer of a fixed length rotates about the numerical scale. More specifically, using an elliptical gauge with an elliptical faceplate as an example, if a rigid pointer is constructed with a pointer extending from a center of the ellipse to an end of the major axis of the ellipse, the pointer will extend outside of the boundary of the elliptical faceplate as the rigid pointer moves toward and past an end of the minor axis of the elliptical gauge. Because the pointer must move beyond an end of the minor axis, it may strike another part of the gauge or another adjacent structure and posses an unbecoming appearance.
Another limitation of current vehicles employing circular analog indicating instruments relates to gauge packaging in a vehicle dash. More specifically, when all gauges installed in a vehicle dash are constructed in a circular fashion, the remaining dash area is not of a convenient shape to package other items, whether they are additional gauges, LCD displays, etc.
What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above disadvantages. This, in turn, will provide a non-circular indicating instrument, with a corresponding pointer, that may be conveniently packaged in a vehicle dash.